Franklin Morales, the Rockies’ stop-gap starter at the back of their rotation, for the second time this season out-dueled Giants ace Madison Bumgarner. His six innings of work yielded three runs and six strike outs against just one walk. Morales’ was an identical line with Bumgarner’s, except his five hits allowed were three fewer.

With the Rockies holding on to a 2-1 lead over the Giants Tuesday night, lefty Rex Brothers entered the game with one out and Giants perched on first and second. He came into rescue Adam Ottavino, who had been lights, but had given up two hits — just his fourth and fifth of the season, putting the Rockies on a cliff.

Brothers came in and threw a fastball to the slumping, but still dangerous Pablo Sandoval. It wasn’t a perfect pitch, but the “Kung Fu Panda” hit a chopper to Troy Tulowitzki at short, who flipped it to DJ LeMahieu on the second-base bag, who gunned it to first for the crisis-ending double play.

Charlie Blackmon has 28 hits from the leadoff spot, and no team has more than 28 hits combined from the leadoff spot. Blackmon leads the majors with a .411 average and has swatted four home runs, two on Monday night.

Yet Blackmon, a left-handed hitter, is not in the lineup for Tuesday night’s game vs. the Giants. What gives, Walt Weiss? He says it’s all about Giants left-handed pitcher Madison Bumgarner.

When Jordan Pacheco’s father, Joe, comes up from Albuquerque for Saturday night’s game against the Giants, his son will have a keepsake ready for him. It will be a baseball, in a sealed plastic bag.

The same baseball that Pacheco knocked over the left-field fence in the fifth inning Friday night for the first grand slam of his big-league career. The homer, off San Francisco Madison lefty Bumgarner, fueled the Rockies’ 10-9 victory over the Giants.

Pacheco, always low-key in front of the media, was pretty matter-of-fact regarding what was perhaps the Rockies’ biggest hit of the season.

SAN FRANCISCO — Baseball is built on superstitions, traditions. Teams look for any reason to explain success. Giants relievers Javy Lopez and Jeremy Affeldt have a fool-proof system, though it’s likely ending this fall.

As we count down to lefty Jamie Moyer’s attempt to make history this afternoon as oldest pitcher to win a big-league game, here are some fun facts to ponder:

— When Moyer made his MLB debut on June 16, 1986 with the Cubs vs. Philly, it was more than three years before Madison Bumgarner, today’s Giants starter, was born.

— Bumgarner is 22 years, 225 days old. Moyer is 49 years, 146 days old. That age difference (26 years, 256 days) is the third-largest between starting pitchers in MLB history. That according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

The only ones older were:
* The Kansas City A’s Satchel Paige (59) and the Red Sox’s Bill Monbouquette (29) on Sept. 25, 1965. The age difference was 30 years, 35 days.
* The St. Louis Browns’ Paige (47) and the Tigers’ Bob Miller (18) on Sept. 22, 1953. The age difference was 29 years, 8 days.

Patrick, a third-generation Colorado native, is back for his second stint covering the Rockies. He first covered the team from 2005-2009, helping chronicle “Rocktober” in 2007 and also following the team’s playoff run in 2009.

Nick Groke has worked at The Denver Post since 1997, as a sports reporter, city reporter, entertainment writer and digital editor and producer, among other newsroom posts. He also writes regularly about boxing, soccer, MMA and NASCAR.